MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

I thought it had something to do with whether you're divided into "schools" or "departments."  Something about organizational structure and independence?  I don't really know. 

Within the CCIW, North Central College, Elmhurst College, Carthage College, and Wheaton College all offer graduate degree programs whereas Illinois Wesleyan University does not. 

[augie77]

I can sort of understand North Park's decision, based upon the South Korean/Swedish misperception issues. 

Is there any reason Illinois Wesleyan wouldn't choose to embrace their (presumably?) proud college tradition.

[kiko]

I can sort of understand North Park's decision, based upon the South Korean/Swedish misperception issues. 

Is there any reason Illinois Wesleyan wouldn't choose to embrace their (presumably?) proud college tradition.

Seems to me that whenever a school renames/rebrands itself along this continuum, it goes from college to university.  I can't think of one that went the other way.  And the brand down in Bloomington is quite strong in academic circles, so there would really be no need to disrupt, for no particular reason, something that is not a drag on the institution.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Another key is if there are multiple campuses, apparently. Mary Washington College went to Univ. of Mary Washington based on not only the post-graduate degrees, but the second "campus" they had (pushing that a bit). That is the one I think helped the "jump the shark" moment. Because it is a University of a Name, not a Place. I thought they should have done what North Park did... Mary Washington University.

I know Lynchburg College has debated about changing it to University for much the same reasons, but the alums are fighting hard not to change it. Feels it sends the wrong message. That University makes it seem like a giant campus and research stuff... when they are a proud liberal arts, small campus. Friend of mine who is an alum is frustrated at the school for the thinking.

[AndOne]

Speaking of the team bus, on the ride up to Kenosha yesterday the NPU coaches and I were joking as to whether or not the ink was still wet on Millikin SID Bryan Marshall's press release when Todd Kelly's résumé came through the Millikin athletic office fax machine.

Hearing that among the other applications recently received for the vacant Millikin Head Coach position are two from coaches with former ties to Benedictine. One from former BU assistant coach and current North Park assistant Joe Fano, and another from former BU assistant and current Blackburn Head Coach Steve Kollar.

[WUPHF]

I know Lynchburg College has debated about changing it to University for much the same reasons, but the alums are fighting hard not to change it. Feels it sends the wrong message. That University makes it seem like a giant campus and research stuff... when they are a proud liberal arts, small campus. Friend of mine who is an alum is frustrated at the school for the thinking.

I went to the Lynchburg College website expecting to see 1-2 graduate programs, but they have quite a few in a variety of disciplines.  I am shocked that they did not change a long time ago.  They are a university.

[WUPHF]

Within the CCIW, North Central College, Elmhurst College, Carthage College, and Wheaton College all offer graduate degree programs whereas Illinois Wesleyan University does not.

I think Wheaton College may be one of the few colleges in the nation to offer a PhD.  In the minds of a lot of faculty, there is a big difference between a PhD and all the other doctoral degrees.

Wheaton is very careful to brand the graduate programs under the Wheaton College Graduate School, so if you are a PhD student there, you are a student of the Graduate School or Wheaton College Graduate School.

[Gregory Sager]

I figured that Steve Kollar would throw his hat into the ring at Millikin, not just for the reasons that Mark mentioned, but also because he's an Elmhurst grad. It's pretty typical for CCIW alumni to want to get back into this league. He also coached at several west suburban high schools prior to being hired as an assistant to John Baines at St. Francis, so he holds promise for Millikin in terms of his potential to recruit in Chicagoland.

Joe Fano's been a big part of two very successful back-to-back seasons at two different schools, and he knows his stuff, so he's a solid candidate as well.

Todd Creal at MacMurray is another guy I could see going for the MU job, as he was an assistant there under Tim Littrell and before that had served for a couple of years under Grey Giovanine at Augustana. He's coming off of a tough 5-20 season, though, which might make it harder for him to plead his case in an interview. Chris Martin's only been at Loras for one season, so it might be too soon for him to contemplate a change if he's interested in eventually returning to the CCIW. And I always wonder if a coach who's been successful in one of the local lower-echelon D3 leagues, such as Chris Bunch at Webster, Ken Davis at Lake Forest, or Ryan Kane at Ripon, might be interested in a CCIW job. Kane would be an attractive candidate for Millikin; he's in his late thirties, he just enjoyed a D3 tournament season at Ripon, and he spent five years sitting second chair beside Mark White at Dominican, so he knows Chicagoland recruiting, too.

I still think that this is Todd Kelly's job to lose, though. He led Illinois Tech to a 22-6 record this year, as the Scarlet Hawks finished as the runner-up in the USCAA national tournament in spite of the fact that their best player, Anthony Mosley, missed the end of the season with a knee injury. IIT, in its own way, is a tough gig for a coach in terms of recruiting, and yet Kelly built a really good team there. Todd's a Millikin basketball alumnus, which would make it easier for the community to rally around him in the wake of the departure of the very popular Matt Nadelhoffer.

[newCCIWfan]

Joe Fano's been a big part of two very successful back-to-back seasons at two different schools, and he knows his stuff, so he's a solid candidate as well.

I have heard of several other current CCIW assistants have also thrown their name into the ring.

[AndOne]

Joe Fano's been a big part of two very successful back-to-back seasons at two different schools, and he knows his stuff, so he's a solid candidate as well.

I have heard of several other current CCIW assistants have also thrown their name into the ring.

Do any come with name tags?

[AppletonRocks]

Just Bill please plant that horse here too please. 

[Gregory Sager]

Speaking of the team bus, on the ride up to Kenosha yesterday the NPU coaches and I were joking as to whether or not the ink was still wet on Millikin SID Bryan Marshall's press release when Todd Kelly's résumé came through the Millikin athletic office fax machine.

Hearing that among the other applications recently received for the vacant Millikin Head Coach position are two from coaches with former ties to Benedictine. One from former BU assistant coach and current North Park assistant Joe Fano, and another from former BU assistant and current Blackburn Head Coach Steve Kollar.

I have just heard from an unimpeachable source that this is a false rumor. Joe Fano is not applying for the Millikin job.

[Gregory Sager]

Another key is if there are multiple campuses, apparently. Mary Washington College went to Univ. of Mary Washington based on not only the post-graduate degrees, but the second "campus" they had (pushing that a bit). That is the one I think helped the "jump the shark" moment. Because it is a University of a Name, not a Place. I thought they should have done what North Park did... Mary Washington University.

The oddest one along those lines, I think, was when Northwestern College changed its moniker to "university" -- and dubbed itself the University of Northwestern rather than Northwestern University. One can see why, since there's already a Big Ten school in the Chicago area with that name, and the liberal arts college in the Twin Cities suburbs had probably had more than enough headaches already trying to distinguish itself from the Big Ten school. Why make it worse by making their name fully identical to the Big Ten school's? But "University of Northwestern" just sounds odd, because you don't normally put an adjective last. It leads one to ask, "University of Northwestern what?"

[augie77]

Any idea what prompted Northwestern's odd switch?  I understand there's a Northwestern College in Iowa.  Numerous other cases like this, including Augustana.  And how many Concordias are there   

[AndOne]

Speaking of the team bus, on the ride up to Kenosha yesterday the NPU coaches and I were joking as to whether or not the ink was still wet on Millikin SID Bryan Marshall's press release when Todd Kelly's résumé came through the Millikin athletic office fax machine.

Hearing that among the other applications recently received for the vacant Millikin Head Coach position are two from coaches with former ties to Benedictine. One from former BU assistant coach and current North Park assistant Joe Fano, and another from former BU assistant and current Blackburn Head Coach Steve Kollar.

I have just heard from an unimpeachable source that this is a false rumor. Joe Fano is not applying for the Millikin job.

Greg,

As you are the authoritative source regarding NPU, I will bow to your superior knowledge of the situation.